Tension in an image can come from subject matter, or through formal elements. The use of a painting trope of a knife on an edge of a table pointed askew of the viewer turns a somewhat pleasant, straight on interior into something with more ominous, while the ghosted, unpainted sofa adds to a mystery to be solved.
In both paintings, I find skewing a pattern off of the implied plane opened up the potential for disorienting my expectations as a viewer. The elements don’t sit on the same plane, such as the books on a table, or picture hanging on a wall out of perspective with the wall.